In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ponnala said that renaming the airport would be an insult to former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi who laid down his life for the country. He requested the Prime Minister to ensure that RGIA’s name remains unchanged.

Ponnala also wrote a separate letter to TRS chief and Chief Minister-designate K Chandrasekhar Rao requesting him to construct memorials for the martyrs of Telangana. He said that if the Telangana Government is unable to take up construction due to paucity of funds, then the Telangana Congress was ready to bear the cost of such memorials.